Tuesday, July 30, 2013

I actually got to see another movie in an actual movie
theater, and this time I didn’t have to go to the bathroom three times during
it! (Sorry Iron Man 3).

Wolverine is not the movie I wanted to see Saturday night. I had my heart set on Pacific Rim, but
really there was no way I was going to make it the late show
(Sorry Charlie Hunnam’s shirtless body, but I have an internal curfew. I
probably would’ve fallen asleep anyway) so we chose The Wolverine as a sort of
compromise. And for the most part, I enjoyed myself.

It was a roller coaster ride, which is what I want in my
action movies. I could argue that the that the ending was telegraphed from the
very beginning, which it was, and it was a pretty predictable ending at that, but
the journey getting there was fun, mostly because of the characters and the
performances that got delivered.

Because most of the cast was pretty awesome. Yes, we could
talk about Hugh Jackman, but we know what we’re going to get from him in terms
of performance. That’s why I bought my ticket. But it was the side performances
that really shined. I mean, every time I see Will Yun Lee in anything, I
continue to enjoy him even more, especially when he’s an unbelievable bastard.
Come on, he outclassed most everybody in Red Dawn (which yes, with Josh Peck in
the cast, wasn’t hard to do), and *spoiler alert* he delivered in what I knew was going to be a
pretty one-note role in this movie too. He was sometimes the most interesting
part in this, especially when it became clear what fate had in store for him.

But even better than him were some of the female
performances in this. Mariko started out a thankless role. Yes please, try to
kill yourself in your second scene in the movie and then run away to your
family home that most people will assume you’ve gone in your fourth scene. That’s
how you win friends and influence people, really. But then somehow she grew on
me. She didn’t shrink away from conflict the way I thought she might. On the
whole, I really enjoyed her.

The absolute stand out for me was Rila Fukushima as Yukio.
She was simultaneously vulnerable yet fierce in ways I didn’t think were
possible. She was teasing out all this emotion and hinting at all these depths
within the character one moment and then having one of the most badass Samauri
sword battles in closed quarters I’d ever seen the next. That takes talent. And
I hope Hollywood takes notice and puts her in more things, or somebody has the
god damned audacity to make Yukio the movie, because based on her performance
alone, I’d plunk down hard earned money to see that.

But for all the performances that I did enjoy there were just as
many that annoyed me to no end. I love Famke Janssen and have sense Love and
Sex for crying out loud and I also loved her as Jean Grey, but her reprisal of
the role was thoroughly unnecessary. It added nothing to the story itself and
came off as very hackneyed and cloying. If you’re going to have Famke Janssen
in a movie, make her useful, instead of just a passing fancy in The Wolverine’s
head, fercryingoutloud.

The worst offender though was the role of Viper. I wrote on
twitter the other day that Uma Thurman called and she wanted her performance
and wardrobe as Poison Ivy back. And I stick by that. Viper was just a thin
impersonation of Poison Ivy and one that wasn’t very enjoyable at that. *Spoiler Alert again* Thank
god Yukio cut her head off, I was getting tired of her and if she showed up in
another movie I was going to have to give up on the whole X-Men franchise
altogether.

But on the whole it really did work, despite my bitching. It
was well-paced, the action was fun, there were ninjas, and swords, and yakuza,
three things I enjoy immensely in my movies. So, what I’m trying to say is, you
could do worse. B

This was always their intention, their mutual creation. Or
it should’ve been. He constructed half of it. He was just waiting for her to
cross over and finish the rest. Their version of heaven was like a friendship
charm, he needed the other piece she kept to lock in place and complete the
circle.

She was his soul mate. The plan was always to band together
on the other side and they’d have eternity with each other. He eagerly waited
for her, knowing that one day she’d meet him and they’d have everything they
ever wanted.

Time didn’t pass there the same way it had on earth, but the
more time that did pass, the more he had to deal with the inevitability that
she hadn’t returned to him.

Was heaven really heaven if he wasn’t sharing it with her? Was
a friendship charm just a wasted piece of metal if it never again found its
match?

Maybe after he passed, she fell from grace and would not be
allowed to join him. Maybe what he thought was their shared idea of heaven was
only his. Or maybe, her heart was never really his.

Whatever the reason, without her, his carefully constructed
heaven was slowly becoming his own personal hell. Or maybe that’s where he had
really ended up after all. Maybe he deserved it. Had he really done enough to
show that she was his everything, or had he taken her for granted all those
years? He didn’t know.

He didn’t even know if he would ever find answers to those
questions. There was only one way to find out, and it would take a leap of
faith to do it. It was one he had to try and make.

*************************************************

Trying to get back into the swing of things writing wise and Trifecta is always a great place to start. This week's prompt was Band, i.e. to band together. The idea for this story was based on a conversation that would take too long to explain and wouldn't make much sense anyway. But what if all the good intentions, all of your plans don't work out in the end, especially if you aren't the only one making those plans?

1: to affix a band to or tie up with a band
2: to finish or decorate with a band3: to gather together : unite - See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.hy6J2hoU.dpuf

Monday, July 15, 2013

It’s utter darkness. There is not a speck of light anywhere
around me. I’m in a metal box not even the size of a grown human. It’s a
cramped position I am in, my body doubled over my legs, my neck placed to one
side. My wings are pressed tightly against my body. I can feel them ache, the
translucent feathers falling around me, each one swooning to its death without
color and richness to sustain it. They use to sing me beautiful melodies. Now
all I can hear are millions upon millions of tiny death rattles.

I use what little energy I do have to push the box. All I
need is one little beam of light to spill forth from a crack somewhere. But I don’t
get any.

I pass out from the effort. I wake up again and muster up
enough energy to scream. I’m hoping the power in my voice can shake something
loose and light will stream in. But it doesn’t. But it does give me a sense of
where I am. This metal box is buried below so much rock and earth that my
signal will be buried and the others will never be able to find me. The person
who trapped me here really knew a thing or two about kidnapping angels. I’ll
give them that.

I pass out again.

I wake up. I know what the intention is. I’m to be turned. All
it takes is the absence of light and time. There’s no use trying to fight it. But
they all put up fights, the ones that were turned. I’ve seen it in their eyes as
I’ve killed them. The universe’s top demon slayer being turned into one
herself, there’s a bit of irony in that.

But whoever captured me forgot one detail. There’s water somewhere
overhead, and life. Water can be bent, life can be shaped. And maybe I can be
freed.

************************************************

Blame a funeral and a vacation if you like, but it's been a while since I've written for the Trifecta challenge. This week's word was crack. I had to think about it for awhile and also, something in Draug's post for this challenge got me to thinking, as most of her Trifecta work often does, and this is what I came up with. You know, just another middle of a story I'll never start or finish, maybe.

I don't know why I thought of her wings as separate entities, that they had lives to lead, but I like the idea.